The Scottish Open bandwagon may be heading away from Castle Stuart after this July's contest but those close to the Inverness links remain quietly confident that another major golfing circus will rumble back into town in the near future.

The domestic showpiece will move across the A96 to Royal Aberdeen in 2014 but Stuart McColm, the general manager, is eager to ensure that Castle Stuart's eventful three-year stint as host venue ends with something of a Highland fling.

A new deal with NBC, the USA's major broadcaster, kicks in this season and will present the event to a huge audience on the other side of the Atlantic and McColm is determined to seize the opportunity for expansion. An investment of £500,000 has been made on the infrastructure over the past couple of years to allow Castle Stuart to cope with the rigours of top-level tournament golf and, having had a taste of the big time, those behind the scenes are keen to sample much, much more.

"We want this to be a big send-off from Inverness," said McColm, who unveiled a special green fee offer for all those who purchase Scottish Open tickets in the coming months. "Let them [the European Tour] leave the Highlands with a sweet taste in their mouth and give them the opportunity that they might want to come back. Would we consider other events? Of course we would. I'm not putting words in people's mouths but Phil Mickelson once challenged George O'Grady [the tour's chief executive] and said 'you have to bring a World Golf Championship event here, that's how good this place is'. We've shown what we can do. We are not chasing anything. The tour came to us and knocked on our door and we've enjoyed the last three years and all the razzmatazz that comes with the Scottish Open."

Whether a lucrative WGC event will pitch up on Scottish soil remains to be seen – only The Grove and Mount Juliet have hosted such events in the UK and Ireland over the past decade – but the affection in which Castle Stuart is held by the golfing fraternity has made it a highly popular destination. Yesterday may have been decidedly dour, with a jaw-shuddering, icy wind that would have sheered the Kessock Bridge in half, but there were still some hard-core – many would say completely bonkers – golfers striding out on the links as the course re-opened after the winter shut down.

Paul Lawrie was on hand to usher in the new season and the 1999 Open champion was in no doubt about Castle Stuart's credentials. "Why not have a WGC event here?" said Lawrie, whose next event will be in the slightly warmer climes of Augusta at April's Masters. "You could see any tournament coming here. Imagine a matchplay event round here? The world's best players playing on a links course in Scotland? It's a magnificent place."

Despite his stellar 2012 season, the Scottish Open was one of the more disappointing weeks of the campaign for Lawrie as he missed the cut but the lure of a links course, particularly in an event the week before the Open Championship, remains strong.

"This is the golf I was brought up on, hitting a 5-iron in from 150 yards as opposed to a wedge," he added. "It's a bit a chilly today but this would still be the right level of wind. Any links course in the world without wind is not much of a challenge. They need it. That's why they are great. You can shoot 65 and 75 and play the same both days. That's the appeal of links."

n Tickets for the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open from: www.europeantour.com/tickets